Author
Topic: Gaming King Old Cab New look (Read 2836 times)

Finally getting around after having this Cab since 2004 to posting my progress. This initial dumpster fire of a thing that was built back in 2004 by one of those fly by night Arcade builders for around 1200$ shipped if my memory serves me. It had a 27in CRT Cheapo no name TV in it and a control panel built. The Cab was sprayed with looks like bed liner, the power switch was a regular light switch wired with speaker wire down into a power strip. I built the computer for it with an arcade vga card for around 400$ the setup worked well I was happy to to be playing my classics again. The cab sat at my moms house for the next 4 to 5 years as I did not have any room where I was living. I finally bought a house in 09 and was able to make some space for it finally. Two weeks after I got it I found out that my brother had left the power on the TV for 2 years or more lol. Needless to say it crapped out on me and I was on the hunt for a replacement. Luck would happen that someone posted on craigslist a brand new makavision flat screen VGA 27in CRT for 200$. I snagged that up quick and dropped it in. Anywho I wanted to refinsh the cab and take off that ugly bedliner so I started with the control panel. IT Took hours to strip that crap off. I originally wanted to go with a marvel wolverine orange but the orange looked real bad and the finish was garbage. So once again i was discouraged and it sat. I was playing it every now and again for the next 5 years. 2015 up next

2015 is here and I got bit by the bug again and I was sick of looking at this hideous monstrosity. So I started with with what I know I can finish Lets build the computer. Went WAYY over kill with this build, cost was around 700$ Wanted to be able to play some modern games as well if I choose. By the time I finished this it was into early 2016.

Dumpster fire, OMG, that's funny, Jennifer can certainly relate to this, as some of mine actually are.... It seems like a really solid build now however, Totally Loving that.

Ya that was the only saving grace is that it was built really solid. The rest was just trash. Forgot to add the marquee light was a regular light bulb fixture like you find in your garage. Also wired up with speaker wire. I never used it as I didn't want to burn my house down. More progress posts later as I go through all my old photos.

Next on the list was figuring out what to do with the ugly orange paint on the control panel. Also the top overlay was some kinda laminate that started to crack on one end. Instead of painting it I decided to use a guy I know who Wraps cars for a living. It came out ok but is not very durable at all. Marquee I bought from Ebay to fill the empty space, pic of it with the light fixture looks really bad. Bought some LED strips from amazon took out the fixture and put the LEDs in. Last pic is everything up together. The bezel will be next to fix

The monitor was never really mounted in properly as it just sat in the old spot of the TV that was there. It stuck out the front of the cab like an inch. To fix this we took out the top and bottem 2x4 moved it back an inch or so and screwed it back together pretty simple. Then ran mounting hardware for the monitor. For the bezel I just got some plexi glass from Home Depo measured out the hole, taped it off and spray painted the back with some black automotive latex paint that is used on plastics. It came out real nice and was only off by a hair so I may go back at some point and fix it. Poking around chances build for ideas I bought new metal trim for the marquee and monitor bezel from home depo was a cheap and eazy way to replace the old trim that was spray painted black.

Well since I got this far at this point it was the end of 2016 and I just was trying to figure out what my options are for the artwork and how to go about stripping down this cab. So I went all in and decided to build a new control panel. A simple 35x16 two player 7 button layout with three inch track ball like I have. Purchased so far

So while I'm messing with all this stuff I have a friend at work build me a control panel box since I have zero woodworking skills and no tools. Came out nice so far, I'm going to be doing the rest with another friend while I decide what layout to use. I need a 7 button 6 for fighters and one extra for neo geo layout. Maybe a vewlix layout anyone know of a good looking and comfortable 7 button layout? Just finished the box last week painting the bottem now the same way chance did his with Flynn.

Last December I contacted SNAKE to help me with the artwork on this project. He is very cool to work with and helped me put something together that I hope works. Nothing is printed yet so feel free to trash the design choice and he can fix it. I wanted a Nintendo theme but nothing to cartoon like. I came across this picture called gaming king. Its Donkey Kong holding Mario over a cliff. I wanted to incorporate this into the design somehow, so what better way then to show an Undead Mario after he was tossed off a cliff. For the marquee I wanted a Donkey Kong font with the first pic included. Finally I just went with Luigi's mansion for artwork on the control panel. Snake was very helpful getting me to this point.

Haha dam your right may have to redo the marquee now lol. I'm not very good at this art stuff at all. In fact picking a theme is really hard. I know I want to keep the sides and go for a dark and simple Nintendo theme. Really unsure about the control panel to. I'll be dead in the water if I can't get the art sorted out. I really wanted to finish the panel this month.

Got my utrack this week from ultimarc. Been using them for years with no issues. Was send a scratched up utrack with one missing bolt. The RGB board I opened the bag and the ground wire fell out of the board. Contacted Andy and he was very helpful and sending me new stuff.

I wouldn't worry so much about the art right now, that can be done later, reconfiguring mounting of the speakers might be a way to upgrade.... This Utrack thing seems fun, (and beyond my conceptual visions) I am more into restorations. but if you could document that a bit as a build, I would promise to be amazed.

I wouldn't worry so much about the art right now, that can be done later, reconfiguring mounting of the speakers might be a way to upgrade.... This Utrack thing seems fun, (and beyond my conceptual visions) I am more into restorations. but if you could document that a bit as a build, I would promise to be amazed.

You do the Nintendo cabs right? Ya I'm going to get the sound In there also just didn't want to chop up my old z5500. Primed the box last night

Nintendo is fun, But I am more into seriously distressed challenges on most anything Coin/op. More about saving games/pins/jukes than actually playing them (Would love to do a cigarette machine someday ) but nothing exclusionary... You should put more primer on that box, A light sand, and deeper more wet coats. thick heavy, dripping off the edge wet coats.

Nintendo is fun, But I am more into seriously distressed challenges on most anything Coin/op. More about saving games/pins/jukes than actually playing them (Would love to do a cigarette machine someday ) but nothing exclusionary... You should put more primer on that box, A light sand, and deeper more wet coats. thick heavy, dripping off the edge wet coats.

Ya I used that painters touch x2 spray paint.I put four coats sanding with 220 in between.

Finished this control panel. Did not turn out so good. The box was to short about an inch. Was dumb and forgot to account for the hinges so player two is a bit higher. This drove me crazy and I only had enough wood to make another box. Sucks this won't get used.

So last week I redid a new box and contacted Haruman to make me new top panel. Saves me from having to go buy a new sheet of birch and redoing it. New panel should be here next week.

Ya I like that but use Luigi instead of Mario. Luigi holding that ghost vacuum sucking up sludge. Want to keep a Nintendead/Luigi's mansion theme. Thank you for the suggestion helps very much as I'm really bad at being creative in anything art related.

Just finished up getting the control panel secure and wiring up the panel. Had an issue with my board so I'm waiting for a replacement.

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What do you use for sleeving? Is that grey stuff something like paracord?

Search eBay for techflex all colors and sizes to choose from. Didn't turn out as nice as some other builds I've seen but it will do. Also is a lot of work, 11 hours over a weekend to do. Had a friend help me with it.

Got my board back from Andy, having an issue with one button I got to figure out. Had to repin one on the harness and will prob have to do the same with this other button. Control panel is on and working just having a hard time figuring out LED Blinky.

Got the LEDs working somewhat and I'm happy how it turned out. Next up is to refinish the cab and Marquee artwork. Kinda got caught up redoing this golden tee fore cab. Has GT 17, silver strike X and power putt in it.